Detroit Radio: WDTW-AM Launches Will Seek Tigers, Lions

A new Spanish-language radio station is on the air in metro Detroit, and its operator is interested in becoming the flagship Spanish-language broadcaster for Detroit Tigers and Lions games.

WDTW 1310 AM, under the branding name La Mega ("The Mega" in Spanish), is now airing Mexican popular music and Spanish-language news, weather and traffic information for metro Detroit. It began broadcasting last week.

The 5,000-watt station is operated by suburban Cincinnati-based Spanish-language media publisher and broadcaster TSJ Media, a division of Gate West Coast Ventures LLC.

Local Spanish-language entertainment promoter Pedro Zamora owns the station through his Taylor-based Zamora Entertainment Inc. He and TSJ Media have a deal for the current operating arrangement, which shares expenses and revenue. They also have prior deals in place in Ohio.

WDTW 1310 AM (5 Kw DA-2)

TSJ Media is owned by Josh Guttman, a longtime Cincinnati radio industry figure. He told Crain's Detroit Zamora's company spent about $1 million to reconstruct the radio station's four broadcast towers, which were dismantled a few years ago in Taylor.

"Our goal is to have conversations with the Tigers and Lions," he said. The Tigers contract their radio broadcasts through a network of stations handled by CBS Radio Inc. and the Lions have a similar arrangement with Cumulus Media Inc.

The Tigers confirmed they don't have a Spanish-language station in their broadcast network, but had no other comment on the matter.

Debbie Kenyon, the senior vice president and market manager for CBS Radio locally, said she's interested in talking with the new station about possibly airing Tigers games.

"We would love to have a conversation," she said.

Older radio listeners will remember 1310 AM as "Keener 13" when it used the WKNR call letters. It was a Top 40 powerhouse during the 1960s and '70s.